Bloody Valentine
by diabolikal rapture
Summary: It's Valentine's Day in the crime lab and Sara finds something special and shocking in her locker. But who is it from?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Bloody Valentine

**Author:** diabolikal rapture // Britt

**Summary:** It's Valentine's Day in the crime lab and Sara finds something special (and shocking) in her locker. But who is it from?

**Disclaimer:** Don't own CSI or anything associated, although George was my Valentine. Whether he knew it or not is another matter...

**A/N:** Here's an extreme post-Valentine's fic, I know it's July! Just felt the need, nothing overly romantic, but I thought I'd take a stab, and if it ends up sucking I'll blame it on my rusty writing skills. Enjoy, and review! Reviews make me smile //** Britt**

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**Bloody Valentine**

_Part One_

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Sara yawned as she walked through the eerily quiet corridors of the lab. The journey from her car to the locker room seemed like a cruel reminder of how little sleep she'd had in recent days. She yawned once more as she approached the lockers. It was nothing a cup of Greg's prized coffee couldn't fix. She opened the door and hung her bag from one of the hooks before removing her lab coat from its hanger. As she pulled one sleeve up her arm something caught her attention.

"Oh God!" She dropped the coat to the floor.

The bottom edge of her clean white coat was stained with a deep crimson, a shade of the color she was all too familiar with. She followed the drips down from the edge of the coat to the pool they formed on the floor of the locker, around what appeared to be a white, blood stained sack. She began to reach in before catching herself and pulling on a pair of gloves as a precaution. Who knew what it was, or if it was real.

Slowly she reached into the locker and lifted the pillow case gently, feeling the weight of something within shift slightly with the movement. She cringed. What the hell was it? She held one edge of fabric in each hand and spread the two sides apart, allowing her to see what it was that had made this mess in her locker. She fought the urge to react as she stared down at the bloody organ...someone had left a heart for her in her locker.

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Sara stormed into the room, and she wasn't happy. Greg couldn't help but mutter something about the great mood she was in today, only causing her to shoot daggers in his direction. She looked between Nick and Greg as she seemed to struggle with the words she was about to speak.

"Is this your idea of a joke?" She said to them, her tone more accusing than questioning.

"Wha...?" Nick began to ask when she raised an evidence bag into view. She'd removed it, drained the blood and separated them as different pieces of evidence.

Greg frowned as he was confronted with what appeared to be a heart... He smiled a little and regretted it immediately.

"Do you think this is funny?" She said angrily, sounding more like an angry mother than her usual self.

"Well..." He began, receiving a look from Nick that warned him to be cautious, "...considering the date, it is, kinda, morbidly funny? It is Valentine's after all..." Sara seemed surprised by that piece of information...seems like someone didn't have herself a Valentine, at least, not before now. He couldn't help but see the humorous side of it. A heart in a locker, all on this day. Someone had one strange sense of humor, although considering their workplace, maybe not so strange.

Nick frowned. Greg never learnt. He had remained silent, but couldn't help but wonder what the heart was made of, and why anyone would go for realism when women seemed to be more interested in fluffy and/or fuzzy...or even chocolate. He took the evidence bag from her.

"It's looks real," Nick said as he stared down at the organ. He gently pressed on one of the arteries, causing a small trickle of clotted blood to leak into the bag.

"It's disgusting, and you, you find it funny," she directed at Greg, her now chief suspect in the matter.

Greg put his hands up defensively, "Hey, it wasn't me, I swear."

Sara couldn't help but feel sick as it dawned on her...

"What if it's human?" She stared down at it. It couldn't be human. It was just a joke, someone was playing with her, and they wouldn't do that with a real human heart. The obvious alternative would be that, if it was real flesh and blood, it would be an animal's, but at that moment the thought sickened her almost as much.

"If this is a joke, it is pretty tasteless." Nick considered. They all knew she was a vegetarian. Some kind of heart shaped vegetable would've been the better option here. "But if it wasn't a joke..."

Greg quickly spotted Sara's reaction to this and knew what he had to do. He stood, taking action. "We need to get this tested." The quicker this was sorted out, the quicker he could ease Sara's mind. She was obviously disturbed by this, and he couldn't blame her. A real heart. It wasn't exactly what every woman wanted to receive on Valentine's.

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Sara sat alone as she waited for the results from Greg's tests. Catherine soon joined her, but she took little notice. She was too busy thinking about the whole thing.

Catherine's ears hummed with the latest gossip from around the lab. "So I hear you found a heart in your locker...how romantic. Why is it so hard for men to just buy a bunch of flowers and grab you a box of candy?" Cath said with a grin. When no response came from Sara, she realized that maybe making light of the situation wasn't the best thing to do. "Sara?" Catherine became aware that maybe the gossip queens of the lab hadn't gotten the whole story. "Sara?" She said again.

Sara looked up at her, her head swimming with the possibilities. If this wasn't a joke, if someone wasn't just toying with her…it could be serious.

"Look, I'm sure it's not human. Who would be stupid enough to pull a stunt like that in a crime lab or all places?" Cath offered, trying to cheer her up. "Don't worry about it, okay? It'll be fine...at least you didn't get a bag of candy hearts from your own daughter." She threw a bag of candy onto the table.

Catherine looked up as Grissom entered the room, his head buried in a folder. This told her that he hadn't heard, but then again, he'd never really did listen to any of the lab gossip, otherwise he would've heard about the many theories concerning his straw hat, among other things.

"Did you hear? Sara's got herself an admirer."

Grissom raised an eyebrow as he looked up from the work in his hands. He immediately spotted the candy hearts on the table. Sara had a Valentine? A lump formed in his throat...he felt memories flood back; that familiar feeling, it was unmistakable. So many years ago...her name was Angela; she'd won the junior science fair and his heart all in one day, and shattered it into a million pieces not long after...Valentine's Day…it was not kind.

"I...I found a heart in my locker." Sara said a little shakily. That was a sentence she never thought she'd say. Just like the time she'd mentioned nether stubble...

"A heart?" He questioned, not entirely sure what he was missing. Candy, chocolate, plush?

"A real heart...blood, oozing..." She trailed off.

Catherine watched as Grissom considered this. Sometimes she wondered about him, about his idea of romance. Would he be the kind of person to leave a heart, a real heart, in the locker of the woman he obviously felt for? Morbid Grissom...the scary thing was, she could picture it. Whether or not he'd be so insensitive as to put a piece of flesh inside the locker of a vegetarian was another matter. Catherine nodded to herself. Conclusion reached: Grissom did not put the heart in the locker...But who did?

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_To be continued_...

A bloody heart in a locker...how romantic! At least some guy's remembered Valentine's Day. Part serious, part not so serious. I felt the need to mention the nether stubble. Recently watched that episode, cracks me up every time. Review! Let me know if you liked it, hated it, or had luke warm feelings towards it, and most importantly, if y'all want an ending // **Britt**


	2. Chapter 2

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**Bloody Valentine**

_Part Two _

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Sara had put herself to work, not able to sit any longer knowing that this 'case' was unsolved. She knelt down as she placed her kit on the floor beside her. She began to dust the door to her locker for prints, knowing exactly what she would soon find. She moved her brush across the surface of the metal, revealing numerous fingerprints, some smudged, while others were partials, a labyrinth of fingerprints and any one of them could be that of the person responsible. She let out long sigh before trying to swallow away the lump that had formed in her throat. She only hoped Greg would have the DNA analysis ready for her once she was done cleaning up. Right now she just needed confirmation that the heart didn't belong to someone. 

It seemed strange to her that this Valentine's Day seemed to be quiet; none of them had been called out. It looked like everyone else was having a crime free day…why couldn't her day go the same?

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Warrick and Nick stood behind Archie, watching the glowing monitor before them as the surveillance footage loaded on screen.

"You know, I can do this on my own…" Archie trailed off, not entirely comfortable with the two men watching over his shoulder. "I'll find you if I find something." He said reassuringly, and with a nod they left. He felt a pressure lift from his shoulders, though he still felt a hefty weight. For all he knew he may be the only one able to narrow down the possibilities. Without this, what else do they have?

Nick and Warrick wandered through the corridors, unable to stay still. Stillness made them feel as if they were doing nothing. "Who do you think did it?" Nick asked, feeling uneasy for Sara and the possible implications of it all.

"Could be anyone," Warrick offered with a shrug as Hodges hurried past them in the corridor. "Whoever it was has to have access, and the only way anyone can get in here is either as an employee or someone posing as an employee."

Nick nodded, "Archie should be able to spot them, shouldn't be hard to notice the guy carrying a blood soaked bag."

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Hodges spotted Grissom enter his office and made a beeline to the door, ready as always to offer his assistance to the boss. He knocked on the door and entered. Grissom looked up at him through furrowed eyebrows.

"I heard about the heart, is there anything I can do?" He asked.

"No, we've got it under control…" Grissom trailed off. He didn't feel like dealing with Hodges today, he had enough on his mind already without needing the added weight of a man who loved to do nothing more than kiss his ass, desperate for approval.

"Are you sure? It's not like I'm doing anything, quiet night, it's strange for Valentine's Day. I thought there'd be an increase, y'know?" He pressed on, but was struggling to hold on to Grissom's attention.

Grissom waved him off and began to massage his temples; he could feel a massive headache coming on. This whole incident was gnawing at him, and he felt that he couldn't relax until it was sorted out. If it was a real threat…he couldn't bear to think of it, but surprisingly that wasn't the most worrying thought crossing his mind…as stupid as it was, it was the thought of competition that ate away at him. As callous and inhumane as it was, leaving a heart in Sara's locker, it only made him think about them, about what he stood to possible lose.

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Greg rushed into the break room in search of Sara, finding Nick and Warrick instead. "It's pig!" He exclaimed, a huge grin beaming across his face. They both nodded, neither seeming to feel the relief he'd felt when he had read the results indicating that the heart belonged to something other than a human. He turned on the balls of his heels and went in search of Sara.

"It's pig," he said to Catherine as she passed him in the corridor.

"That's good to know," she replied, only feeling slightly better about the whole situation. Despite the fact that it wasn't human, it was still creepy.

Archie stuck his head out into the corridor, seeing Catherine heading away from his lab. "Hey Catherine, can you get Nick and Warrick for me? I've found something, something…interesting," he said with the hint of a cheeky smirk on his face.

He sat down in front of the monitor again, re-watching the short sequence he had located. It wasn't what he had been looking for, but this was definitely something they would all be interested in. Moments later the three CSI's entered and gathered behind him. This time he didn't mind their company, at least this time he had something to show them.

"What've you got?" Warrick asked as he leaned against the desk.

"Well, I haven't been able to determine who planted the heart in Sara's locker…" He trailed off, waiting for their reactions so that his next actions would garner a greater reaction. "But, wait until you see this…"

He hit play, and they all watched as Grissom and Sara, hand in hand, entered the locker room together. He hit paused and spun around, each of them had a gob smacked expression on their face.

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I know it's long overdue. I wrote this and the rest of it in the past 2 hours, was way too long to fit into one part so I cut it in half. I hope y'all enjoy this part, the last will be up either tomorrow or the day after. Please review // **Britt**


	3. Chapter 3

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**Bloody Valentine**

_Part Three_

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Hodges wandered down the hallway, paying attention to the papers in his hands instead of the path before him. As he passed Archie's doorway he glanced up quickly before continuing on his way, only to double take at the amount of people crammed into the room, huddled around something. His heart felt as though it skipped a beat; had they found the perpetrator? He entered the room, annoyed that he was missing out on something. Again he was singled out from the rest, and again he'd have to try to wriggle his way in to the inner circle. 

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked, causing them all to react in slightly different degrees of surprise.

Catherine clutched her chest, "God I thought you were someone else..." She trailed off, sure that if she held her breath and kept a straight face, she could maintain a calm composure...but that failed. A large smile burst out across her face before she turned back to whatever it was Hodges couldn't see. His heart beat faster.

"How funny would it have been if it was him?" Warrick chuckled. He hadn't composed himself to face him yet.

"Yeah, just about as funny as it's gonna be when they explain themselves," Nick shook his head,

"Wait...funny? Isn't this about the heart? What did you find?" Hodges asked, a dozen questions waiting to follow on from these.

"Well, you could say they're related to a heart, or even two." Catherine said over her shoulder.

Hodges moved forward. They were all crowded around Archie's computer, the only way he was going to see was to find out for himself. He pushed forward, parting a small space for himself. When he saw the mere 5 seconds of grainy footage on the screen he could have sworn his jaw hit the floor.

"Where's Grissom?" Archie asked Hodges. If anyone were to know of his whereabouts, it would be him, the man who often tried way too hard to get into their boss' good graces.

"I haven't seen him. I've got work to do." With that he turned to leave, no longer feeling out of the loop. His heart still beat at a higher rate. Just as he began to round the corner he collided with Greg.

"Hey, watch it man." Greg said as he regained his balance. Hodges nodded and hurried down the corridor. Greg frowned, no comment from Hodges? That had to be a first. He turned his attention away from him. "Have you guys seen Sara?"

"I know one place you could probably look..." Catherine replied, smile still permanently fixed to her face.

"Or someone you might find her with..." Nick added.

"...Okay...what am I missing?" Greg asked curiously.

"Well, to answer you first question, yes, we have seen Sara." Archie said as he gestured for Greg to come closer. "There she is..." He said as he repeated the footage once more.

"Oh my God..." Greg trailed off, just as gob smacked as they'd been moments before. "Well then, does anyone know where Grissom is?" He cracked. They all laughed together, their laughter fading slowly to a weird sort of silence. They all could see this coming, Sara and Grissom, the little moments, the unspoken things that they shared, those times where it felt like being in the room with them was like an intrusion. It played again, showing Sara and Grissom walking hand in hand into the locker room, then moments later out of the locker room, still hand in hand...

"Look, Sara still doesn't know that the heart isn't human, so while you guys figure out a way to torture the two of them with this, fill me in on the plan." Greg grinned mischievously and went off to find Sara. Maybe that was why it was so hard to find her, she could be anywhere with Grissom, locked inside some utility closet...And then there she was. Sara crossed the end of the corridor, breaking Greg out of his trail of thought. Lucky, otherwise he could've been scared from the pictures in his head.

"Sara!" He called out as he got closer. "It isn't human, it's pig." He thought she'd be relieved, but if she was she didn't show it. Sara frowned. It wasn't human. It was animal. That didn't make her feel any better. She couldn't think of a single person who would want to hurt her, to threaten her...it could just be a stupid, yet innocent prank. It couldn't be more serious than that, could it?

"Did they find anything on the tapes?" She asked.

"No, they didn't find anything, about that..." He grinned to himself before leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Sara went and sat down, her head in her hands as she mulled over the small amount of information that she had. Non human, animal heart. No fingerprints. No footage. No suspects. _Well, maybe that last one was a lie..._She had suspected Grissom for a few moments, but knew she was being stupid. She went in search of Archie. She wanted answers, whether he could give them to her or not.

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"I don't know what I can get out of the footage." Archie frowned, back to work.

"What, besides some classic blackmail material?" Catherine smiled, "from the list we've compiled, no one's entered the locker room who doesn't work here."

Archie nodded. "There's no sign of tampering with the footage, of any loops, nothing. There isn't anything missing, no one's accessed the footage except me. That rules out a cover up."

"So, considering it's a pig's heart, it's Valentine's Day, and the only possible person responsible works in this lab, and uses that locker room...prank?" She raised her eyebrows. Who the hell would do that?

Archie nodded again. It was the only possible explanation. And seeing as it hadn't turned out to be serious, he felt his guilt about their earlier amusement leave him. "How do we narrow it down now?"

"I'm not sure, but whoever did this is more than likely going to be killed over this. But before that happens we'll have to thank them for giving us the opportunity to see what we've seen."

Archie let out a chuckle, unaware that Sara stood at the doorway. She felt herself glaring at them, at the back of their heads as they laughed at a time like this. How could they be amused now? Sure she was being a little over dramatic in the way she expected them all to be focused on her and her problem, but wouldn't they expect the same if they were in this kind of situation?

"Have you found new anything yet?"

"Nothing that points to one person. Sara, despite how serious we though it could've been, it looks like it's just a prank. "

Just a prank...funny how that just didn't make her feel any better. She slumped down in the nearest chair and looked at the list Archie and Catherine had compiled...She didn't know whether to try to feel relieved or feel incredibly pissed off that it was one of them. And why her?

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Catherine found Grissom in his office, mulling mindlessly over a stack of paperwork. She studied him for a moment. Concern was etched into his features. Was it concern simply for Sara, or because he had something else to be concerned about, like hiding the fact that he'd planted the heart? She sighed, catching his attention. She knew it wasn't him, despite the thought that he could, quite possibly, see the image of a pig's heart in a locker as morbidly romantic. "We've narrowed it down to everyone who uses that locker room. It was one of us." She said as she took a seat across from him. He leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowed as he began to think. After a few moments he leant forwards, "I know how to get them."

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Everyone sat within the break room waiting for the meeting to begin. Grissom had something he needed to discuss with all of them, though what exactly they didn't know. Sara sat on her own, exhausted and tired of it all. They all chatted away with each other, though one was doing their best not to fall apart right then and there...

Grissom and Catherine slowly headed towards the room, letting them all sit there and wait for them that little bit longer, letting the guilty person stew with concern. It was one of them, and that one person would soon crack. Despite the fact that they all knew that there was nothing on the footage and no forensic evidence to narrow it down, but Grissom knew exactly how to play this one out.

They entered the room, everyone's eyes upon them as they headed straight to the front of the table. Catherine followed Grissom's instructions to the letter, keeping her face expressionless and making eye contact with each and every one of them. He did the same. They stopped at the head of the table. Grissom held something out of view beneath the table top, whilst Catherine held a folder in her hands. Without saying anything, Grissom lifted the bag onto the table, the blood soaked bag still dripping slightly from the last of the drying blood. It made a soft thud as it hit the surface of the table. He then took the folder from Catherine and opened it, pulling out a large photograph. He looked down at it, then made a sweep of the room, again making eye contact with each and every one of them. He watched for any change in body posture, facial expression, anything that would indicate a guilty conscience to him. After all he relied on evidence.

He paused a moment as he looked at the photograph, and looked up once more before looking at Catherine, asking with a small gesture whether he should show them all the photo. She nodded and gestured for him to show them all. He slowly lifted the photo higher so that all would be able to view it, and with equal speed began to turn it around for all to see.

"Alright!" Hodges exclaimed, unable to take the silence, the tension, the pressure he felt in that small room.

"You? It was you?!?" Sara was suddenly very alive and had no inkling of the tiredness she'd felt only minutes earlier. She narrowed her gaze as she crossed the room and stood inches in front of him.

He put up his hands as he stood, "I…I didn't mean for this to happen, it was a joke, they dared me to, it wasn't supposed to be taken so seriously." Hodges said, hoping that now she could see the funnier side of it. He looked at all of them, searching them, waiting for someone to say it was okay instead of staring at him the way they all were. What was he supposed to do? Turn a good dare down, be ridiculed? Sara's face softened as she turned her face away from him. For a split second Hodges dropped his guard and allowed himself to sigh...perhaps in relief...but that relief was not deserved. Sara quickly faced him again and within an instant she drew back her fist and punched him in the face.

Hodges dropped to the floor holding his nose in pain. She stepped over him and left the room, soon followed by each of her colleagues who simply walked past him without giving him the slightest piece of attention. Blood from his nose ran between his fingers and began to drip forming a characteristic pool on the floor...

The End.

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I hope it wasn't too disappointing after all this time. I was initially, way back in July, was going to go with a more serious fic but with the help of a friend, decided to do some Hodges hating and go with a lighter ending. If anyone would like to see a more serious, alternate, non-pig direction, just comment and I'll get on it. As always, reviews are appreciated // **Britt**


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